So! Kind of surprised it hasn't been brought up here yet...
For those who haven't hear, Video Copilot just released their new plug in, Element 3D. It's a full 3D particle system for After Effects, but you can use it to bring in single models too. It has some powerful animation tools and works completely with lights, cameras and motion blur inside of AE. There are some things it doesn't do that particle systems inside a true 3D program would do, like physics simulation, actual shadows and a few other things. With some careful key-framing though you'll never notice, and it does have occlusion to fake shading. Oh, it also works and renders crazy fast.
We bought it for Invision Media and yesterday was my first day to really get to play with it. Here's a couple of play around pieces I made in just a few minutes:
https://vimeo.com/45984772
password: 3d
https://vimeo.com/46006392
password: 3d
Of course Andrew has some killer examples out there, my stuff was made with a base knowledge of the program haha. Check it out, it's going to revolutionize 3D for lower budgets, considering the plug in is only $150!
http://www.videocopilot.net/products/element/
For those who haven't hear, Video Copilot just released their new plug in, Element 3D. It's a full 3D particle system for After Effects, but you can use it to bring in single models too. It has some powerful animation tools and works completely with lights, cameras and motion blur inside of AE. There are some things it doesn't do that particle systems inside a true 3D program would do, like physics simulation, actual shadows and a few other things. With some careful key-framing though you'll never notice, and it does have occlusion to fake shading. Oh, it also works and renders crazy fast.
We bought it for Invision Media and yesterday was my first day to really get to play with it. Here's a couple of play around pieces I made in just a few minutes:
https://vimeo.com/45984772
password: 3d
https://vimeo.com/46006392
password: 3d
Of course Andrew has some killer examples out there, my stuff was made with a base knowledge of the program haha. Check it out, it's going to revolutionize 3D for lower budgets, considering the plug in is only $150!
http://www.videocopilot.net/products/element/